From the 25th of November to the 10th of December South Africa together with the international world stage, the advocacy and awareness will be to highlight gender-based violence against women and children. The spotlight for 16 Days against gender-based violence, femicide, intimate partner violence and rape. For most, these 16 Days are just another coined phrase to band-aid the horror of the reality of many lives lost in South Africa to abuse and violence.  The latest statistics on Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Femicide in South Africa are appalling and scary. According to the defence-web between July and September 2023, 10,516 rapes were reported to the South African Police Service, almost the same as the 10,590 cases recorded in the same period last year. The phenomenon of GBV and femicide in South Africa is a serious issue and no longer acceptable to be just brushed over. We all need to become accountable. The answers haven’t been found in the last 25 years since South Africa has joined in on the advocacy and awareness of this international campaign and neither will it in 365 days of the next year. However hopefully for the next 16 days, you will move and act, and become part of the voices for whom we campaign for the next 2 weeks. In these ever-changing times, I pray your awareness becomes accountability.
For me, like all awareness days, they are there to cause us to stop the hamster wheel. To get off the track of head down, earphone in and screen zombie mode we have all become accustomed to. We have become numbed to the harsh reality of many people’s lives. We look up when the news cycle speaks to the horrors and tragedy that is, of a story of a family in crisis in loss. We look up because it’s sensationalised and because everyone is talking about it. We can’t be left out. So we change our status to a candle, a ribbon, a face for a day or two until the news circle has changed. We add it to our status updates and be part of the trend of conversation. And then the next news cycle hits and we go back to mindless self-adulation and manic drive to make our lives comfortable and envied. Is this not what drives us? Every day, we push and cut ourselves off from the person beside us as we strive for the next big thing we can share for others to celebrate us. We have become obsessed with our happenings, our successes, our next big buy, our studies and accomplishments, our days in the sun. We have become so obsessed with ourselves that we cannot hear that there is someone right next to us who is screaming at us to listen.
This is why we need awareness days. We need to take our feet off our gas pedal take a beat and actually think about the lives of others. We promote self-care and the importance of boundaries, but that does not mean that we lose a compassionate mindset and forget to be mindful of others. We cannot change the stats but we are able to add to the lives of others by getting behind a cause, donating something from your life and bringing light to someone else. I am not saying you should not continue to strive, to work hard and to be successful. And congratulations if you are, and all the more reason why you should be sharing your days in the sun with another.
Life is an ever-changing time and for many, it’s like living in one hell of a time loop. The sun is not shining and there are nothing but dark clouds overhead. It’s for this reason that there are awareness days; so look up. Look up from your screen and notice the terror in your sister’s eyes. Look up from your screen and notice the fear in your brother’s heart. Look up from your screen and notice the pain in your neighbour’s silent screams.
We have been given 16 days to take stock and identify who needs your help and who needs to be heard, There is a loud cry, a defining silence, a desperate plea coming from the other cubical at the office, from the desk of your boss, from the chair of your team member, from the bed of your child, from the laughter of your friend, from the hurried hello of your neighbour, from the song of the man in the pew, from the patient in your care, from the voice on the phone, from the tweet, status update and motivational quote of your contacts. You will not see or hear it otherwise. If it was not for awareness and advocacy days like 16 Days, Movember or World HivAids Day. All days we have just between November and December to be aware of the plight of others.
Be someone’s voice in these ever-changing times and change the way time rolls by, by taking a step back. Sit a while and give your time to someone who needs you. Who knows, you were born for a time such as this, to be someone’s light in their darkness. To stand in the sun with someone. To be someone’s answer to prayer, to be the one who hears someone’s silent cry.
They will never be heard if we were never made aware. You have 16 Days this year to change someone’s year, someone’s days, someone’s hours, someone’s minutes. 16 Days to advocate and stand in someone’s need and hopefully you will be someone’s 365 days of change and restoration. 16 Days to be accountable for someone’s pain. So join a campaign, get behind a movement, add your voice, share your time, take a stand, and hopefully together, through accountability and compassion, we can give many someone’s, their new 365 days to look forward to, in the sun.
